Determination of kinetic constants for glycerol acetylation by particle swarm optimization algorithm

Abstract

The esterification of glycerol with acetic acid to produce mono-, di- and triacetyl glycerol was studied over several acid mesoporous materials. Adopting a pseudo-homogeneous second-order model, the kinetic constants could be determined by exploring the solution space with a particle swarm optimization algorithm in two stages. The error metric adopted was the sum of errors squared obtained comparing the experimental data with an approximation of the extent of the reaction by a numerical method. Different sulfonic-functionalized mesoporous silicas were evaluated (SBA-15, SBA-16, MCM-41 and MCM-48). The catalytic results were highly dependent on the structure, mainly due to the different acid sites density obtained with each support. In spite of an increase on the activity when the amount of acid sites per gram of catalyst increases, the productivity per site does not change significantly among the different catalysts.